Server rooms are among the most important rooms in any organization, thus the need to maintain a conducive environment for the equipment. If the server fails, the company can lose valuable data and equipment.

An AC portable low watt unit offers the best solution for keeping the server room cool without freezing the whole office. However, to cut on electric consumption, get AC portable unit with low watt capacity.

Requirements for Cooling a Server Room

First, before you buy the AC unit, consider the amount of heat that the unit should displace. The server room equipment generates high amounts of heat meaning you need to focus on factors such as the BTU. The recommendations of the square foot and on the spec sheet of the unit can mislead and cause a miscalculation.

How to Calculate the Required BTU for a Portable AC Unit

To establish the BTUs required in the server room, check the BTUs produced by your equipment, lights and other server room occupants, then calculate the square footage of the room and the number of window. Secondly, use the following guideline to do the calculations:

-To know the total amount generated by BTU equipment, multiply 3.5 by the total watts required by servers, switches, and routers.
-To know the amount generated by BTU lighting, multiply the total wattage obtained from the above calculation by 4.25.
-To know the amount of BTU for occupants, multiply the total number of occupants by 400.
-To obtain the square footage, multiply length by width by 337.
-To obtain know window BTU, subtract length in meters from South facing then multiply the answer by width in meters and then by 870. Then subtract length in meters from North facing and multiply the answer by width in meters and then by 165.

How to Select a Portable AC

A portable AC unit helps the server room by focusing the cooling energy on the areas that need cool air. Window air conditioner units are not ideal for server rooms because these units work with open windows, a situation that can compromise the security of a building.

Although swamp coolers are portable, they produce a lot of noise, come with low BTU power and need full time monitoring hence not appropriate for server rooms. Swamp coolers also produce large amounts of moisture and do not come with condensation tanks to help in keeping the equipment and air dry like portable air conditioning units.

When buying an AC portable low watt unit, it is important to shop around and compare the equipment in order to get a reliable, noiseless and compact unit that does not require high maintenance. By doing so, you avoid a case where you come into the office one warm morning only to discover that the spot cooler you bought does not work anymore. This is why you need need to invest in a good and reliable AC portable unit. In the end, your company crucial company data stays protected at all times.